


Home for the Holidays

by Sithy



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, M/M, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-29 11:37:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8487829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sithy/pseuds/Sithy
Summary: A just in time for the holidays adventure in which our favourite Imperials travel to Thrawn's homeworld.Disregards canon regarding canon deaths, everyone gets to live and go on a fun trip.





	1. Leave

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my other NaNo project. It's very AU and silly, but I've wanted to do it for years. You can still follow daily drabble updates here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/7547764/chapters/17164111  
> This fic will be updated a bit more slowly and may go up in rating. Unbeta'd and set to be edited after NaNo. Happy reading :)

**1 - Leave**

They’d all been called to an officer’s meeting. It was a rare thing for Thrawn to do, and Pellaeon couldn’t think of a single issue important enough to need an entire meeting. The last time they’d had one, it was to discuss a peculiar new battle plan of Thrawn’s to which they’d all disagreed. He had of course executed the plan regardless, so why he still held meetings was beyond Pellaeon. He’d met with Veers and Piett in the hallway before the officer’s meeting room and they were now sat in their chairs, waiting for Thrawn.

When he did walk in, he immediately came down to business. “Shore leave, gentlemen,” he spoke, his voice calm as always. “Today I wish for all three of you to pick a destination for shore leave in 2 weeks time.”

A shocked silence hung in the room. It was as if Thrawn had dropped a bomb on all of them. The silence stretched out awkwardly until Thrawn sighed, a rare show of emotion for him. “The fact of the matter is, gentlemen, that none of you have used your leave in years. I need my commanding officers alert. So taking your leave is an order I expect you to follow.” His tone of voice suggested it’d be unwise to argue the decision.

Pellaeon peered at his fellow officers. Neither of the two seemed very excited about the prospect of a forced leave. Sure, it was nice to get off of the ship for a while. Though the Chimaera equipped with several gyms, two gift shops, three officers’ lounges, four bakeries and several nice cafes, a change of scenery would be nice. The problem was none of them were very sure where to go. There were the obvious pleasure planets, but none of that appealed to them.

“Is it really such a hard order to follow?” Thrawn asked, looking at each of them in turn. He seemed to have sensed the drop in mood. It was Piett that spoke up hesitantly (though Thrawn had shown himself endlessly more patient than Vader, he’d never quite gotten over his promotion). “It’s not that we don’t want to leave,” he said, looking at the others, “we’re just not really sure where to go.”

It was then that Pellaeon realized they’d made a terrible mistake. Thrawn would think of some place to go and somehow, he didn’t expect it to be any fun. Privately, Pellaeon thought he’d never met anyone less likely to kick back and relax than Grand Admiral Thrawn. His idea of fun was probably a museum, followed by a brisk walk and then another museum. For a short moment, Pellaeon imagined Thrawn in a tourist-y bright coloured shirt, shorts and sandals with socks. He could just about keep himself from laughing.

To his surprise, Piett seemed to like the idea. “I’ll have my suitcase ready, sir,” he beamed, “it’s about time we got away from this place.” Thrawn nodded gravely. “I’m glad you see the importance, Firmus” he said. “It’ll be nice to all have some downtime together and I’m sure I’ll find an entertaining place.” He dismissed the meeting after that, as usual expecting everyone to go along with his next great plan. Piett walked out after him, saying something about some reports being due.

Veers leaned over to Pellaeon. “We have to go as well” he said. “Have you seen what Firmus has been uploading to the ChimaeraNet lately? He needs a break.” ChimaeraNet had started as a quick way to note down reports and orders, but had blossomed into a shipwide communication hub where everyone aboard could share photos, videos and text messages. Piett had indeed been uploading oddly cryptic book quotes only Thrawn (who kept a meticulous account of his Ysalamiri with various toys) ever seemed to like and understand. They in fact wondered if he ever slept. “Right,” Pellaeon said “I guess we’ll go, too. Honestly, how bad can it be? Worst he can do is herd us into a museum, we can sneak off for a drink then anyway.”

It wasn’t bad. It was terrible.

Thrawn had refused to tell them exactly where they were going, only that they should pack very warm clothes. This had set off warning lights in Pellaeon’s mind, but nothing could have prepared him for…this.

_This_ being the frozen solid iceball of a planet Thrawn called his homeworld. Had it not been so cold that Veers had started complaining about parts of him never working again, Pellaeon may have been interested in learning more about his mysterious superior. On a purely professional level, he hastened to remind himself. As it were though, even in four layers of clothes he was still miserable. Piett had the slightly shellshocked look of a man that had just seen all his dreams getting crushed. Veers was glowering from underneath his furred hat.

“Welcome to Csilla, gentlemen.”

 

\---

WONDERFUL ART BY https://badsadspacedads.tumblr.com/ (Included with permission)


	2. Thrass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thrass wonders at his brother's ability to find humans to tag along with him everywhere.

**2 – Thrass**

Trudging through the snow and ice, they walked behind Thrawn, awkwardly dragging their luggage along. Oddly enough, there’d been no droids at the space docks. Apparently, the Chiss preferred to not rely on droids. There had been a bunch of very modern, mean looking warships though, so they seemed to have no qualms about technology in general. The streets seemed quiet and neat, lights strung between the buildings.

They walked up to a large house sitting at the end of a quiet road. Lights shone from behind the windows of the two-story building. Thrawn had a spring in his step as he walked to the front door. At least one of them was enjoying themselves, Pellaeon thought. At least it’d probably be warm inside which was a good thing, he was inclined to agre with Veers on certain parts being so cold they would never be usable ever again.

The door opened and Pellaeon blinked in surprise. In front of them stood a man that looked so much like Thrawn, he just had to be closely related to him. Slightly taller and older, with that same regal air of the Grand Admiral, he was clad in elegant robes with burgundy patches on the shoulder and collar. He firmly gripped Thrawn’s wrist as Thrawn took his elbow and they stared deeply into each others eyes, not speaking. They seemed to have forgotten the extra guests.

As the silence stretched out while the snow was still falling on to them, Veers made a polite coughing sound and only then did they both look at the humans standing behind Thrawn. The other alien didn’t look all that thrilled to see them, but he didn’t look like the easy to be thrilled type to begin with. “Uhm. Hello there,” Veers said, taking charge “I’m Maximilian Veers, I’m honored to meet you and see your...wonderful planet” he finished lamely, waving his hand around. It seemed even the infamous Maximilian Veers, the Fleet’s smoothest talker, could occasionally find himself at a loss for words.

“Why is it that every time I see you, my brother, you have humans in tow I am not sure are with you by free will?” the man said in heavily accented but understandable Basic. He cocked his head and eyed all of them. “My name is Mitth’ras’safis” he then spoke. “My brother insists humans have trouble pronouncing our names so you will be permitted to use my core name, Thrass.” Thrass’ face showed no emotion as he spoke, eyes glittering at each of them. Pellaeon wasn’t sure if Thrawn was just showing more facial expressions, or if he’d gotten really good at reading his face. The red eyes were somehow far more intimidating on Thrass, with that same sense of looking right into his soul.

At last they were being ushered in to the warmth of the house. Thrawn introduced all of them formally to Thrass, who gave each of them a short nod in return, not smiling. Thrawn and Thrass took off chattering rapidly to each other in their native language, leaving the humans to remove their outer layers of clothes. As Pellaeon peeled himself out of his coat and hat, he became aware that Piett was still standing with his coat on, gaping at something on the wall behind them. He frowned and followed his gaze. Not entirely surprised, he saw a large painting on the wall. Figures the house of Thrawn’s brother would have art in it.

“That’s the _Alderaanian Night_ ” Piett groaned, still looking at the painting in awe. “It’s a nice looking painting, sure.” said Veers, working to take his snowboots off. “It’s not just a nice painting, Max” Piett said, shaking his head as if this should be obvious to the other two. “It’s thought to have been lost and it’s worth a few small planets. I’m pretty sure this is the original.” He looked close to fainting at that.

Huh. Interesting. So Thrawn’s brother was also into art, and apparently rich enough to own an extremely rare piece of art. It seemed to run in the family, then. Pellaeon filed that tidbit of information in what he privately referred to as his “Thrawn files”. Not that this went beyond a professional interest, of course. It was just interesting to learn more about other cultures, that’s all there was to it. Just a professional interest in learning more about Csilla and Thrawn. He squashed any further thoughts as they wandered further into the house.

They found Thrass and Thrawn in the sitting room, a comfortable, low-ceilinged room with several armchairs arranged around a roaring fire. The walls of the room where covered in art and bookcases piled with books. As neither of the aliens seemed inclined to include them in their conversation, Pellaeon, Veers and Piett moved around the room, studying the art and books. Piett, more versed in various literatures of the galaxy than the others, whistled softly. “These are all worth a fortune,” he whispered to them, “this guy must be extremely rich. These books here are so rare, they are real paper. I don’t even want to know how he got them.”

“You will be interested to learn that we tend to hear better than humans,” Thrass had suddenly appeared besides Piett. “That so,” Piett squeaked, the slight nerve twitch he’d had since running the _Executor_ acting up around his eye. Thrass stared at him for almost a full minute, then to everyone’s surprise his face relaxed somewhat. “Do not worry, Firmus Piett. I am not offended at your interest in my collection. I also think…” he paused for a moment at this, then proceeded, eyes glittering a little with just a hint of humor “…my brother probably has not informed you of our improved hearing, knowing him.” 

That comment took the worst of the awkwardness off. Thrass proved to be very knowledgeable on literature, and allowed Piett to look through the bookcases, occasionally commenting on particular books. Though he remained a bit distant, Pellaeon realized he probably hadn’t had to deal with humans a whole lot and was clearly trying his best for his brother’s sake. 

Thrawn, meanwhile, had disappeared through a nearby door. Ensuring Veers was keeping himself entertained, Pellaeon decided to follow him. He found himself in a large kitchen, where Thrawn was leaning against a countertop and looking out of the window. Pellaeon realized he’d come here to have a quiet moment to himself, and made to turn around. “Stay, Gilad.” Thrawn said, his voice oddly rough. “Is there anything wrong, sir- Thrawn?” Pellaeon knew they’d agreed on being strictly off-duty and on first name base this trip, but he still found it difficult to say Thrawn’s name.

Thrawn sighed and Pellaeon thought he wouldn’t be getting an answer, but it seemed Thrawn was holding himself to the off-duty agreement too, for he did answer Pellaeon while studying the floor. “It’s strange, being back here. It’s as if I’ve always kept these two worlds separate and now with you three along, they come together. I haven’t allowed others to come here, for fear of what they might learn about us…I guess I need to consider my people can take care of themselves.” 

Pellaeon suddenly felt awful for having been grumping about the weather. They were on Thrawn’s homeworld. His carefully guarded, secret homeworld. The least he could do was appreciate that, knowing it had probably been very difficult for Thrawn to drop his Grand Admiral mask to take them here. He was offering them all a chance to learn more about himself, it wasn’t to be taken lightly and Pellaeon decided right there and then he would take every opportunity to learn more.

“I look forward to seeing more,” he said, stepping forward and after some hesitation, touching Thrawn’s sleeve. “I would like to learn more about you, Thrawn.” Fearing he’d gone too far and gotten too familiar, he gulped and stepped back. Thrawn surprised him, however, by gently touching his hand in return. “I’d be glad to show you, Gilad.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soft touches between Imperials ah hmmmm yes


	3. Sightseeing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ar'alani is her usual badass self, and Veers learns about her nice legs

3 - Sightseeing

After a night’s rest, Pellaeon found himself awake at his usual early hour. The bed was extremely comfortable, but he still couldn’t find a peace of mind in this unfamiliar place. The conversation he’d had with Thrawn last night kept playing in his mind. Especially the way Thrawn had gently touched his hand. Try as he may to focus on other things, he couldn’t get the memory of that touch out of his head.

Shaking his head at his own behavior, he got out of the bed, putting the warm robes supplied by their host over his pyjamas. Thrass had said they were welcome to explore the house, but Pellaeon decided to go down and see about something to eat. As he walked into the kitchen, he found both Thrass and Thrawn already up and in an intense discussion. They stopped as he walked in, both looking up. Thrawn was clad in the same type of robes as his brother now and looked decidedly more alien. They suited him. (Pellaeon stored this image in his Thrawn files, too. For purely professional reasons.)

He was curious about what they’d been discussing, but figured it wasn’t his place to ask. Instead, he let Thrass fuss over breakfast. It seemed he’d gotten over his initial discomfort at having a house full of humans and was now taking his host duties quite seriously. He didn’t let Thrawn or Pellaeon help him, telling them to sit down and enjoy some tea while he started piling the table with food.

Pellaeon was quite taken aback at the selection of foods. There was just so much to pick from. He found plates piled high with an assortment of breadrolls, meats, vegetables and pastries. Also present was yet another kind of tea. This tea was spicy and seemed to warm him from the inside. As he sipped his tea and sampled from the food, he turned to Thrawn. “Any plans today?” he asked. Thrawn opened his mouth to speak, but Thrass beat him to it. “Thrawn thinks you and Maximilian Veers will not appreciate the museum” he said “I have therefore offered I will take you both to the city and show you around.” The way he said it seemed to suggest he considered the matter closed already.

Thrawn frowned. “You don’t have to go if you or Max don’t feel up to it” he said. Pellaeon considered it. He felt a little uncomfortable with Thrass. It was kind of him to offer to entertain them, but he also felt he’d be in the spotlights and perhaps be used for Thrass to make up his mind about humans. On the other hand, did he not chastise himself last night for being not appreciative enough? He took another sip of the tea and smiled at Thrass. “I’d be honored to have you as my guide” he said. Thrass merely lifted an eyebrow.

Maximilian, it turned out, was a little less excited about going out in the cold with Thrass. However, he too had come to the conclusion that it had taken Thrawn a lot to take them here, so they both ended up standing outside in their thick winter clothes. Thrass, they soon found out, had a similar liking for architecture as Thrawn. Pellaeon wondered if it was something with the species, or just particular to Thrawn’s family. They walked after Thrass as he pointed out architectural details, seemingly not bothered by the cold at all.

As even Max’s teeth started clattering (this from the man that had found Hoth ‘a bit chilly’), Thrass suddenly halted and looked at them. “I do apologise,” he said, “I seem to have forgotten you are not as well equipped to handle the cold.” Veers spluttered a bit at that, but Thrass didn’t even seem to hear him. He ushered them in front of himself to a small building lying somewhat further off the main street. When they stepped in, a delightful warmth immediately hit their faces. The room was somewhat dark and it took Pellaeon a bit to see where they were.

“Excellent” said Max, much more enthusiastic than he’d been all day. Pellaeon had to agree. Thrass had taken them to what seemed to be an inn, various Chiss sat around large wooden tables with drinks in front of them. Max rubbed his hands to get the feeling back in them as they followed Thrass to a free table. When they sat down, Thrass frowned. “I recall Thrawn told me your alcohol tolerance is lower than ours” he said, sounding a little troubled. Max waved his hands. “That might be the case for youngsters,” he said confidently, “but as a dare I say experienced drinker, I’ll be fine.” Pellaeon didn’t quite share his confidence and went for another local tea. Max was used to the Army drinking nights. They usually did not involve their Navy colleagues and it was for the better.

As they sipped their drinks, they looked around. The both of them were used to somewhat more rough and loud pubs. The Chiss however seemed to be quietly drinking their drinks, talking only in low voices. There was no music. Veers was giving himself some liquid courage before turning to Thrass. Pellaeon had to hide a smile. People thought Max was your typical muscled dumb guy, but underneath that easy demeanor was an excellent strategist. He knew how to put people at ease and would get them to talk. His comfortable, easy-going nature usually made people reveal things about themselves really fast. It had shown useful many times. Whether or not that worked on the Chiss remained to be seen, but it’d be a source of entertainment at least.

“So,” Veers said “been a long time since you saw your brother, huh?” Thrass looked up for his drink and seemed to consider the question, as if asking himself if it’d be proper to reply to it. “Indeed.” he simply stated. Maximilian wasn’t so easily pushed away, however. He hadn’t earned his reputation by being easy to put off, of course. Raising himself up a little, he went on. “I’m rather impressed with your art collection” he said, deciding flattery was the way to go. “I can see where Thrawn gets his love of art.” Thrass seemed to be getting more uncomfortable, glancing at the door. Just as the silence stretched out and Veers opened his mouth again, he perked up a little. “Excuse me. I will need to greet Admiral Ar’alani” he said, nodding to the Chiss that had just entered the inn.

Pellaeon blinked in surprise at the newcomer. She was very tall and dressed in an all-white uniform. Her hair was long and hung in a neat braid down her back. Thrass had said she was an Admiral and Pellaeon immediately sensed this was a woman he’d better take seriously. She seemed to give off that same sense of power Thrawn did, and looked far more intimidating. This was a woman best kept as a friend. She nodded in greeting to Thrass, then her eyes fell on the humans. Her raised eyebrow reminded him so much of Thrawn, Pellaeon couldn’t help but smile. She said something to Thrass and then the both of them walked their way.

“Nice legs on her” Veers whispered to Pellaeon. Pellaeon choked violently on his tea. Clearly, Max had forgotten about the Chiss’ more sensitive hearing. The Chiss’ more sensitive hearing that allowed Thrass, the woman and everyone around their table to hear the comment. Pellaeon decided at this very moment that the ability to quietly sink into the floor would be a very nice ability to have indeed. It seemed every single glowing red eye in the entire inn had turned to them.

The woman drew herself up to her full length and gave Veers a glower beyond anything Thrawn had ever thrown at him. It was enough to make him sink a bit deeper in his chair. “You will be excused once, human, but you better learn our customs really quickly” she hissed at him, her Basic less accented than Thrass and more like Thrawn’s cultured tones. Eyeing him for a few seconds more, she then turned to Thrass, all calm business again.

They were speaking in their native tongue so Pellaeon wasn’t sure what they talked about, but if he could make a guess he’d assume it was about the both of them. He got the impression that the Admiral wasn’t truly that annoyed with Veers and mostly curious about them. Veers didn’t try to start conversation again, he’d downed his drink and was staring morosely into the glass. Pellaeon nudged him gently with his foot to snap him out of it. Max looked up and shook his head ever so slightly. Pellaeon was about to try and start a conversation when the Admiral turned to address him. “The Syndic declined to tell me. Are you planning to attend the ball for Ascendancy Day?”

Pellaeon realized he didn’t get most of that. “I’m sorry, Admiral,” he said “I am not quite sure what a Syndic or Ascendancy Day is.” Next to him, Max groaned slightly. Clearly, admitting you didn’t have a clue what the conversation was about wasn’t a really smooth way to talk. To both their surprise though, the Chiss actually laughed. “Oh, you must excuse me. Both Thrawn and Thrass are probably not very forthcoming on details. Thrass is a Syndic, it means he plays an important part in his Family’s affairs. As for Ascendancy Day, it’s when we celebrate the start of our Ascendancy…You can calm down, Syndic, teaching these humans our customs ensures we can start a working relationship. That is what we need, not secrecy.” She spoke the last sentences to Thrass, jabbing a finger at him as she spoke.

Pellaeon was beginning to feel he’d like this woman a lot. Next to him, Max Veers took a renewed interest in the proceedings. Perhaps it was going to be a good week, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ar'alani is not here for your secretive species crap!
> 
> I love her, she always struck me as a non-nonsense type


	4. Human/Chiss relations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short intermission, in which plans are made and the vacation seems to get worse.

Thrass had, very graciously, declined to give Thrawn the details of their afternoon together. He had mentioned it had been educational, Ar’alani had met them, and left it at that. The problem was that this only made Thrawn suspicious of the whole thing. As Thrass was preparing dinner (still not accepting anyone’s help), Thrawn kept trying to talk to him in their native speech, but judging by the short answers he was giving, he wasn’t having much luck in getting more details.

The humans had retired to the sitting room. Piett told them that he and Thrawn, too, had met with Ar’alani while they were at the museum. He had been taken aback with how nice she had been. Most Chiss they’d met had seemed reluctant to even acknowledge him. Ar’alani on the other hand had, so Piett explained, given Thrawn a right earful about not showing his friends around his homeplanet sooner and lectured him on the importance of human/Chiss relations. (At this, Pellaeon’s mind started to imagine all sorts of human/Chiss relations and he’d had to quickly suppress those thoughts.)

Firmus chuckled as he told the story. “Thrawn wouldn’t even speak back to her, he was all yes ma’am and no ma’am. I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman quite like her. She must be something to reduce the Grand Admiral to just nodding and agreeing.” “An old flame, maybe,” Veers mused and somehow this enlightened a ridiculous and absolutely not professional stab of jealousy in Pellaeon. It was difficult to squash it and it absolutely didn’t help his face had reflected his feelings, because both the other men threw him odd looks. Pellaeon knew not everyone in the Fleet was happy about fraternization and it was officially still forbidden. He wasn’t sure what they’d make of his reaction. Veers saw the discomfort in his face and reassuringly patted his shoulder. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, Gil.” “I’m sure that even if she’s an old flame, Thrawn is long over her” Piett hastened to add, nodding encouragingly at Pellaeon. “He didn’t even seem that happy to see her, you know how he gets…It meant nothing.”

Though it was nice of them to try and reassure him, it also made him feel even more uncomfortable. At least they didn’t care for that particular bit of protocol, but he also didn’t want to delve too deeply into feelings that were still highly confusing to him. “I don’t…can we not analyze my feelings any further?” Pellaeon groaned. “This is weird enough as it is.” Both the other men looked as if they wanted to say more, but another look at Pellaeon’s face made them change the subject to whether or not they should fill in Thrawn on what exactly Max had said to Ar’alani. The general consensus was that it was probably better to not wake any sleeping vornskrs. After all, Thrass hadn’t spoken about it. If the incident had been really serious, he’d have made a fuss. They agreed on keeping quiet about it.

It turned out Thrawn saved them the trouble. As dinner was served, he fixed Veers with the worst of his glowers and asked him straight out how the meeting with Ar’alani had been. Long time experience had taught Max Thrawn did not take kindly to liars, so he decided to be truthful. “I sort of…complimented her legs.” Thrawn let out a disbelieving groan at that. “You…complimented her legs” he said, voice dangerously calm. “Well,” Max huffed, “she does actually have really nice legs, you know.”

Thrawn’s head was in his hands now and he groaned again. “That woman is the Supreme Admiral of the fleet, Maximilian. She is not ‘nice legs’. She could have you skinned and use your hide for a bag.” His voice muffled by his hands, he looked up at the three of them again, his face the face of a man worried sick over something. “How am I getting all of you to that ball without any Csilla-wide diplomatic incident is beyond me.” He shook his head, looking rather desperate.

Thrass surprised them by speaking up and explaining that the Admiral had, in the end, taken quite a liking to the humans. It seemed her talk had worked on him, too, for he actually stood up for them against his brother. Veers was still somewhat busy digesting the thought of Ar’alani being in charge of the entire fleet and her potential use of his hide, but looked up when he heard Thrass mention Ar’alani’s insistence on giving their human guests more information about Csilla and Chiss customs. The humans in question exchanged looks, for so far none of the Chiss they’d met had seemed all that keen. Their vacation hadn’t quite been a vacation so far. The Chiss’ ideas of relaxing and going out just seemed entirely out of step with their own ideas about such things.

Thrass eyed the quiet group, stroking his chin in thought. “I could, possibly, arrange for a teacher to come and help teach you some Chiss customs. It will be good for you. You can learn more about us, and perhaps we about you in return.” No one dared groan.

It was going to be a long week.


	5. Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our Imperial friends meet their teacher for all things Chiss

The next morning started bright and early. As they sat around the breakfast table drinking tea (Veers had asked for caf and Thrass had stared at him as if he’d grown three heads), each was lost in their own thoughts concerning the ‘lessons’ Thrass had announced.

There was a polite knock at the door. Thrass got up to let their visitor in. “You all look like you’re about to be put in front of a firing squad” Thrawn said. “My brother wouldn’t put an evil teacher on you, you know. It’s just for a few hours so you won’t stand out too much at the Ascendancy Ball. You’ll do fine.”

Any protests they’d have wanted to make were stopped by Thrass coming back in their room with their teacher.

It was the lady Admiral, Ar’alani. She had a younger male Chiss in tow with her. As she nodded at each of them, she introduced him as Stent, an aide. Stent, it turned out, was the most outgoing Chiss they’d met so far. He’d served in the Unknown Regions and had worked with humans there. His eyes shone with good natured humour and he didn’t even mention his full name neither the full names of the humans around him.

Ar’alani had moved to Thrawn and they seemed to be in a long discussion, heads close together. Pellaeon again felt a ridiculous stab of jealousy. It was only natural for Thrawn to want to spend time with someone that had clearly been important to him in his previous life. Besides, he wasn’t even sure he liked humans or men. It was almost an offense to his superior to sit here nursing jealous feelings and—

“Gilad, are you coming too?” Stent and the others stood at the door. “I thought you’d like to go out and see some of the places I frequent.” As much as Pellaeon wanted to stay and do…do what? Stare at Thrawn? Break into the conversation? He gave himself a mental kick and got out of his chair, not ready to brave the cold again but also not ready to keep watching Thrawn and Ar’alani.

Once outside, his worries took a back seat. It turned out the places Stent frequented were not musea or architectural wonders or stuffy quiet inns. Stent hung out in more rowdy bars crowded with equally young Chiss. The younger Chiss seemed far nicer, too. Most of them were a little less open and enthusiastic than Stent, but Pellaeon sensed it was more due to them not being used to humans and not wanting to offend, than to the weird sense of being better he’d felt from the older Chiss.

Piett’s thoughts had taken a similar route, for he asked Stent about the cold attitudes they’d met here and there as soon as they’d sat down with a drink. Stent’s expression darkened a bit. “I’m sorry you had to experience that side of Chiss culture.” He said “I’m afraid some groups feel they’re better than other species and other species are best kept ignorant.” A silence hung over the group as he’d said it. “Things are changing, you’ve met Madam Supreme Admiral and a lot of us here have learned Basic” Stent hastened to add.

“It’s OK” Piett said. “Us humans have a long history of feeling better than other species, too. We can hardly be the ones to criticize.” Stent inclined his head at him. He then turned to Pellaeon and the next words out of his mouth left a shocked silence at the table. “So, are you and Thrawn together?”

All three Imperials gaped at the young Chiss, who looked back at them in equal confusion. “Did I speak about something offensive?” he said, clearly highly confused by their reaction. “Not really offensive…just something I don’t even know for myself” Pellaeon said, taking pity on their teacher. “You look at him as if he means more to you” Stent insisted.

“You are aware fraternization is forbidden?” Pellaeon muttered, remember that tidbit about Chiss’ hearing and figuring the entire bar was listening to them. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what that word means” said Stent, disappointment evident in his face. “But in Chiss society, if you like someone and they like you back, we consider it of no consequence. As long as matters are kept professional when needed, there is never harm in love.”

“A drink to that!” yelled out a heavily accented voice from the back. The entire room seemed to rise towards the bar as one. Amidst the loudness of the crowd, Pellaeon leaned over to Stent and asked the question he wasn’t sure he wanted an answer to. “So…Thrawn and Admiral Ar’alani could have been together?”

He wasn’t sure what he had expected, but he for sure hadn’t expected Stent to laugh. He felt vaguely offended, as if Stent was laughing at his feelings. Thankfully, the young Chiss explained. “Thrawn was the youngest to ever be admitted to the Academy. We age differently than you do, but the Admiral is far older than him. That, we don’t feel is appropriate.” Pellaeon felt a deep sense of relief that he didn’t even bother to try and squash down anymore. “You needn’t worry, they were never together.”

Veers had been following the conversation with interest. “Well see there, Gil, there is still hope for you there.” “Thanks, Max, that really makes me feel so much better” Pellaeon sighed. “For all we know he’s not even into men”. Stent made a sound of amusement at that. “I know a lot of humans still think otherwise about such matters, but we do not look at gender, any gender, when we fall in love. It is a foreign concept to us. I don’t think Thrawn thinks otherwise.”

Now Veers was positively beaming. Pellaeon did not actually like the look of it. “There you go, with a bit of matchmaking you two should be all right.” “There will be no matchmaking, especially no matchmaking from you Max” Pellaeon huffed, wondering if he was the only one in the room this uncomfortable. It was refreshing to be around less uptight Chiss, but it wasn’t quite as refreshing when they were all so damned matter of fact about something that confused him greatly. He just turned to Firmus to ask for his opinion when he realized he was gone.

Actually, they hadn’t heard Firmus in a while. He seemed to have disappeared into the crowd during the earlier rush to the bar. Looking around, they found him talking to a very pretty young Chiss woman, their heads close together to hear each other over the sounds in the bar. “See, Firmus has no trouble relaxing while on leave” Veers said, as if illustrating a point. Damn the man. Stent had followed their gaze and whistled, a sound that was oddly more of a hiss than it’d be on a human. “That is Feesa, she is the daughter of an Aristocra, an important leader. Your friend Firmus has good taste” Stent raised his glass at that.

“See Gilad, no one cares about ranks here. Reach out to him.” Veers said, also raising his glass in a toast. Pellaeon sighed again. It seemed everyone but he himself was so sure about this. As the loudness around him intensified as people started toasting to humans, Chiss, the Ascendancy, the Chimaera, and everything they could think of, he sat deep in thought.

He only had a week to figure this out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Stent is portrayed as a snappish guy in Hand of Thrawn, but I like the idea of him being a young and far more enthusiastic student in his early years.


	6. Bath house

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The good old Chiss bath house....and a date

The following morning found them all a bit hungover and dazed. The party had gone on for a long time. When they finally did get home, they found Ar’alani had gone home and Thrass had retired to bed. Thrawn had waited for them and seemed amused at their state, saying he knew Stent would not disappoint in his educational qualities. Pellaeon wasn’t sure if he’d even heard it correctly, but Thrawn had almost sounded wistful, as if he regretted not coming along.

Pellaeon had felt drunk enough to want to discuss things with Thrawn, but Thrawn had also gone to bed. Grudgingly, he’d gone upstairs too and collapsed on the bed. That morning, he found he was no longer 20 and that Thrass hadn’t exaggerated when he said Chiss had a higher alcohol tolerance. The drinks had been awfully strong. Their only rescue had been Stent, who brought them cups of water after their initial few drinks.

Making his slow way down, he was given a hot cup of herbal tea. He sniffed it warily, beginning to desire caf too. Thrass ensured him the drink would help his headache and he was almost sure it’d not affect humans otherwise. That wasn’t reassuring at all. Pellaeon took one sip to not appear rude, then decided even the Imperial standard caf was better than this.

Firmus arrived downstairs in high spirits. He’d spent the rest of the night talking to Feesa. He had refused to tell them if he’d received her holocall number, but judging by the spring in his step he probably had. Pellaeon was happy for him, of course, but it also send his thoughts into Thrawn territory and he was not ready to handle them. Stent had spent the night on the couch and, annoyingly, seemed entirely unaffected by the previous night’s festivities. He wasn’t even fazed by Maximilian growling at him (Max had never been a morning person) and chattered away to Thrawn about last night’s antics.

Thrawn again seemed almost wistful. He’d spent the night discussing recent tactics with Ar’alani and from the sound of it, it hadn’t been fun. Not that Pellaeon was happy to hear that or anything. It was just good to know what Thrawn had been up to. It didn’t surprise him to hear Thrawn would join them today, however. He was still denying to himself that the fact made him feel weirdly tingly himself when he heard Veers and Piett choke on their drinks almost simultaneously.

“Sorry, what did I miss?” he said, hoping they’d think he was just hungover and hadn’t just been lost in lovey thoughts about his superior. “Oh,” Stent said, airily, “Firmus and Maximilian informed me neither of you brought swimclothes for today’s excursion, but I told them we never swim with clothes on so we’re all good to go.” Pellaeon dropped his fork on his (probably expensive) plate with a clatter.

“What….what exactly is the learning goal of today?” he said, trying very hard not to look at Thrawn and failing. It both pleased and annoyed him to see the amusement on Thrawn’s face before he carefully smoothed it away. “I trusted Stent to make your stay somewhat more enjoyable than it has been up until now, but I also know his taste for drinks. I thought you’d like a chance to relax and get rid of your headaches.” Thrawn said, having the gall to sound somewhat hurt at their reaction to the plan.

Veers, meanwhile, was looking back and forth between the two of them. A thoughtful look came over his face as he leaned back in his chair. “I’m sure we can get over a bit of awkwardness, it sounds like a wonderful idea.” He said, and Pellaeon wondered if he could get away with kicking him under the table. Judging from Piett’s face, he was thinking the same thing. Unfortunately (or fortunately, if one would ask Veers’ shins), Thrawn jumped from his seat and told them to get ready. He seemed…more cheerful than they’d ever seen him. Pellaeon wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to know why.

It was awkward. Being naked together in Academy showers was one thing. Being naked amidst a whole lot of aliens who all looked highly intimidating was another. Even Veers looked a little apprehensive at the situation. “Come on” Thrawn said, walking into the dressing room too “I can assure you no one will even look twice at you.” That much seemed to be true even while they were still clothed. Even if most of the older Chiss had been treating them coldly, they did keep their manners and today wasn’t an exception.

Veers cleared his throat awkwardly and started undressing. The others followed suit. Pellaeon very determinedly kept his eyes on the floor. He was not going to be a pathetic schoolboy and steal looks. He was not going that road. He was a high ranking officer in the Imperial Navy and he was above such things. He was not—

Well, poodoo. It would figure that the Grand Admiral was in good shape. It would absolutely figure that the galaxy would bless him with a superior that ticked all the boxes. He sort of had hope to find something – anything, be it physical or personality-wise – that’d put him off of Thrawn. It’d seem he’d have no luck. It’d just be—

Could he just stop existing at this moment? He had still been staring at Thrawn albeit lost in thought, and Thrawn had caught his eye. He didn’t seem angry though. No, just to make it worse, one side of his mouth quirked up in a smile. They stared at each other for a moment, before Thrawn made an odd sound and stepped out of the dressing room.

“Well, that was smooth from the both of you” Veers said, leaning against the dressing room locker. “Really. Next thing you know you’ll be together in bed. If you’d just let me help, I’m sure you’d—“ “There will be no help, General Veers” Pellaeon snapped “especially not as we are about to spend a day naked amidst a bunch of Chiss.”

Veers didn’t at all seem put down by that. “There’s always tomorrow” he said, winking at Pellaeon before strutting out as well. Pellaeon then realized he was alone in the dressing room now. Piett had already wandered off. Since when had he gotten so confident, anyway? It seemed meeting Feesa had done him a world of good. “If only we could all be so lucky” Pellaeon muttered to himself as he, too, stepped out.

The hot springs made them forget their worries for a while. After spending so many days out in the cold, they were the perfect treat. Of course, it really helped to keep their eyes closed so they could pretend to not be surrounded by not all that cheery or relaxed looking Chiss. It was working well enough for Pellaeon anyway, until Thrawn sat down next to him. Not wanting to appear rude, he opened his eyes.

If Pellaeon didn’t know better he’d think Thrawn was…nervous. He fidgeted with a bar of soap and didn’t look at the human sitting next to him. Addressing the water rather than Pellaeon directly, he spoke up. “I was just wondering if you’d like going into the city with me tomorrow” he said, saying it quite fast and keeping his eyes firmly glued to the water. Pellaeon saw an ever so slight muscle twitch in the alien’s cheek as he stopped talking. Interesting. Very interesting.

“Sure, that sounds fun.” Pellaeon said, forcing himself not to think too deeply about what was being offered. Thrawn slowly turned to look at him, a hint of a smile on his face. “I’ll be sure to have something nice planned” he said, before moving off to sit in one of the hotter pools.

Pellaeon had a hard time forcing his mind to not consider what _something nice_ could entail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh oh, where will they go?


	7. 7 - Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally go on that date!  
> Lunch idea by chissprincess, thank you for letting me borrow it :)

**7 – Date**

Pellaeon felt it was going to be one of _those_ days when he opened his eyes the next morning. He had days where he wished he’d been signed away on some lonely outpost at some boring planet, doing deskwork all the time. It wasn’t often that he longed for that, but the feeling usually seemed to surface whenever Thrawn was working on something that was very likely to end up with the Chimaera breaking into a thousand pieces for Force knows what kind of art piece.

And, so it seemed, they seemed to surface when Thrawn finally took a more than professional interest in him. He scoffed at the thought. He’d always been confident with his various flings – alien and human alike. Sure, having a crush on your superior officer was a very teenage thing to do and he had questioned whether or not this was all some midlife crisis. But the constant insecurity was new, and he didn’t feel it was something he should get used to. A little bit of good old Corellian ‘just throw myself in and see where we end’ would be required here for his…date. If that was what this whole ‘doing something together’ thing was about anyway.

As he came down he found just Thrawn, engrossed in a datapad with a cup of tea standing forgotten near him. He hovered at the foot of the stairs, taking in the image before him. Of course, he hadn’t been able to come down the stairs unnoticed for Thrawn looked up from his datapad. Was it his overactive imagination or did his eyes seem to blaze a bit brighter when he looked up? Act normal, Gilad. He sat down next to the Admiral and helped himself to some tea as well.

“Don’t eat too much” Thrawn suddenly spoke up. “I have planned something I think you’ll enjoy.” Now, that was interesting. That seemed to suggest dinner plans. Much as he tried to suppress the butterflies in his stomach (really, was he some awkward cadet again?) he ended up not being able to eat much, anyway. Purely because he was excited to spend a day with Thrawn, he hastily told himself. Regardless of what spending the day would involve exactly.

He was half expecting Thrawn to drag him to a museum and was very pleasantly surprised when they went to a cozy looking street with various small shops stacked together instead. He hadn’t taken Thrawn for the shopping type, but he was happy to be out together and let himself be shown around the various stores. Thrawn babbled on about the books and antiques they were seeing.

It was all very nice, but somehow Thrawn seemed more distant than he had been when they were being shown around. He seemed strained, a little more on edge than before. It could be the stress of keeping his human friends from somehow unleashing the wrath of the entire Chiss Ascendancy on themselves, but it made Pellaeon’s stomach clench painfully just the same.

They’d sat down at a table near a blissfully warm fire in a small café when Pellaeon had gathered up the courage to ask. “Is everything all right?” he said, deciding to skip pleasantries. Thrawn opened his mouth as if to reply, then closed it again, sinking into his chair a little. Uh-oh.

“I, uhm, read up on human courting behavior” Thrawn said, voice a little strained. Pellaeon tried very hard not to cough too loudly on the piece of complementary bread he’d accidentally inhaled at that. Right. “Yes…” he said, trying to sound encouraging and supportive. Thrawn studied him and then seemed to slump even more. “I clearly did not read the right information.”

It was the mental image of Thrawn pouring over human romance manuals the way he normally studied art that got to him. He managed to hide the first laugh as a cough, but failed miserably to contain himself when he saw Thrawn look more alarmed by the minute. “Sir…Thrawn…for one, please don’t say you’re courting me. I’m not a holonet princess.” He held up a hand as he saw Thrawn ready to start talking again. “And honestly,” he was hoping he wouldn’t start stammering like a lovesick idiot “you’re good the way you are.”

Thrawn was quiet for a few moments, then his face relaxed. He even gave Pellaeon a slight smile – which he had by now figured was quite a big smile to Chiss standards. “In that case, I’d be delighted if you’d join me for this lunch. I’ve arranged for them to make samples of all the best Csillan foods.” Arranged. Of course. It was endearing that he’d put that much time and thought in all this, though he never did things halfway anyway.

As the food arrived Pellaeon was not even surprised to see a very wide variety. If Thrass’ breakfasts were anything to go by, the Chiss took their food very seriously. Various hot and cold dishes sat on elegantly decorated plates, with slices of the same thick, fresh bread they’d already been enjoying. “Any specific order to eat these?” he asked, sensing that this would probably be the case and he would be offending all Chiss present and their ancestors if he got it wrong.

_Of course_ there was a specific way to do it. Thrawn helpfully re-arranged all the plates in correct order for Pellaeon to sample them. The first dish was nice, though a little spicy. In fact, quite spicy. He bravely took a few sips of the sparkling water they’d been given, hoping he wasn’t turning red. Hopefully, this wasn’t some sort of trend with Chiss lunch food. Gathering up all his Corellian courage, he moved to the next dish.

That wasn’t spicy.

It was beyond spicy. It was volcanic. It was burning his tongue, his mouth, his lips, it was torture. He wheezed, dabbing at his eyes with a napkin, feeling many a red eye on him. “I can ask for the less spicy menu” Thrawn offered, looking extremely worried. Pellaeon tried to tell him he’d be just fine, but ended up having a coughing fit instead which turned even more red eyes towards him. Probably, coughing over food was also an offense to all of Csilla.

Once he’d contained himself a bit more, he found the waiter moving towards them with what was very clearly a children’s menu. Not for the first time since arriving on this planet, he wished it’d just open up and swallow him. He jerked in surprise when Thrawn’s hand closed over his. Thrawn threw a few pointed glares at the other patrons still staring at them as he squeezed Pellaeon's hand. Slowly, everyone turned back to their own plate.

“I’m sorry. My people aren’t always the most supportive of other cultures and species” he said, clearly uncomfortable. He squeezed Pellaeon’s hand again. “I hope the less spicy variety will be more to your liking.” His fingers curled around Pellaeon’s in a way he could without a doubt get used to really fast.

The fact it was the children’s menu aside, the food really was very tasty. Thrawn helped himself to the other dishes, clearly not at all bothered by the spices. No wonder he always seemed unhappy about the Chimaera’s mess hall food, it must all seem terribly bland to him. They ate in a comfortable silence.

As they walked back, he found Thrawn’s hand again and firmly grabbed it. Thrawn seemed surprised, then his eyes blazed a little brighter as he let his shoulder bump against Pellaeon. He didn’t let go of Pellaeon’s hand as they stoped outside Thrass’ house. Pellaeon thought they’d go inside, but Thrawn turned to him.

“I really am sorry, that you’ve had to witness the worst of my people on this trip” he spoke as snow started to fall down around them again. “Don’t be,” Pellaeon said “I wouldn’t have missed all this for the world.” Thrawn seemed uncharacteristically unsure what to do and Pellaeon couldn’t help but grin. Pulling Thrawn closer to himself, he looked him in the eye again.

“We humans just like to spend time with our loved ones wherever we can” he said, and he closed the distance between himself and Thrawn by capturing his lips in a kiss. Carefully at first, he grew more bold as he felt Thrawn respond. For a moment he forgot they were outside Thrass’ house and he put his free hand on the back of Thrawn’s head, tongue gently probing the alien’s mouth.

As he had to reluctantly break the kiss to breathe, he took in the sight of a rather flustered looking Grand Admiral. He grinned and got a grin in return. “My brother will have seen that” Thrawn said, voice a little husky. Pellaeon grinned wider.

“He will get used to irrational human behavior.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess which story is being worked on again for NaNo? Yesss! I'll also be publishing a new story (yeah I know) and updating the drabbles. Happy NaNo, my fellow fans, may all of your stories come to you easily and may no writers' block exist <3


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